Irishman To ride the Tour de France!!!

uberwolf

I've raced against this chap, storming rider and is in good shape. We maybe shouldn't expect any headlines from him, but equally can see him getting away in good break some time in the three weeks.

Bon chance Mark.


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SCANLON OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED FOR TOUR DE FRANCE
By Shane Stokes
Jun 28, 2004, 16:33

Mark Scanlon’s participation in the 2004 Tour de France was officially confirmed today by his Ag2R Prévoyance team with the announcement of their nine man line-up for the race.

Scanlon will join Ag2R Proyance team-mates Laurent Brochard, Jaan Kirsipuu, Jean Patrick Nazon, Stephane Goubert, Nicolas Portal, Yuri Krivstov, Mikel Astarloza and Samuel Dumoulin in the Tour lineup.

The 23 year old professional will make history by becoming only the eighth Irish starter, and the first since Stephen Roche back in 1993.

‘I am delighted to get the chance to ride the Tour,’ said Scanlon today. ‘I’m very happy to ride but I am going to approach it like any other race, rather than build myself up too much. I’ll just take it as it comes and see how I get on.’

Scanlon was chosen yesterday evening by the Irish selectors for the Athens road race but, like his Tour de France participation, this was anticipated beforehand due to his good results this season. These include two race wins in Estonia, plus the accumulation of 198 world ranking points.

Scanlon is the most talented Irish cyclist in many years. Ever since that dramatic victory in the 1998 world junior championships in Valkenburg he has been recognised as the most likely rider to earn a Tour de France start.

Earlier this month he spent time training in the Alps in order to prepare for the demands of the Tour. As the race approaches, he will taper down his training in order to ensure his batteries are fully charged before the arduous three week contest.

‘I haven’t been doing any special training of late, just following my normal routine,’ he said. ‘I won’t be doing anything too excessive over the next few days, just getting ready for the start of the race.’



All contents are © Copyright by IrishCycling.com 2004
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link to the above

pdh

Just in case you don't know, he's from Sligo. Fo all you Dubs, this is a place approx 120 miles north west of the Pale close to the British border

uberwolf

From IrishCycling.com

Road News
SCANLON'S TOUR DIARY IN THE STAR
By GERARD CROMWELL
Jul 1, 2004, 08:09

When 23-year-old Mark Scanlon rolls down the starting ramp in Liege on Saturday, he will become the first Irish cyclist to compete in the Tour de France since Stephen Roche in 1993.

From Thursday, you can catch up with the Ag2r professional as he tackles his first Tour by reading his Tour Diary in The Star. In collaboration with Gerard Cromwell, the Sligo man will take readers on a journey through his hopes dreams and aspirations for his first Tour De France. Get up close and personal with ireland's top cyclist on the world's biggest bike race, in The Star.

Pherekydes

Well done by Mark, beat the Dutch & French TT champs, amongst others!

klong

39th yesterday.


irish indo gave him a few small lines at the bottom of an article on armstrong.

well done to shane stokes on a featrure-length article on scanners last saturday.






good luck mark!:)

uberwolf

here's the article from todays indo & daily telegraph.
Good ride by scanlon again by the looks of it

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CYCLING: Lance in pole position already
Monday July 5th 2004

LANCE ARMSTRONG will feel extremely satisfied with his opening weekend of the 2,100-mile Tour de France. From third place overall, he can look back at his main rivals who have lost a few crucial seconds to the winner of the past five Tours in the first 130 miles.

The early days of the three-week race serve only as indicators but the Texan, escorted away each day by his rock-singer girlfriend Sheryl Crow, is showing that, at 32, age has yet to dull his enthusiasm for the competition.

On Saturday, Armstrong won the psychological battle with his rivals when he finished second to Swiss youngster Fabian Cancellara in the Prologue time trial, over nearly four miles, in Liege.

Importantly, the American gained 15 seconds on Jan Ullrich and 16 on fellow American Tyler Hamilton. "I told all of the team to ride as fast as they could and we were rewarded with the team win at the Pologue," Armstrong said. "I was pleased with the way I went, too."

The last time Armstrong finished second on the opening day by the same margin - to Britain's David Millar in 2000 - he went on to win the race by 6min 02sec over Ullrich in Paris.

The rain yesterday made the 126 mile-race from Liege to Charleroi an unpleasant affair with a number of riders falling, including the infamous sprinter Mario Cipollini, who rode well to finish safely in the main field but was far away from the first place he usually gets when the pack fight out a finish.

Instead, Estonian Jaan Kirsipuu, who has not won a race since March, judged the finish perfectly, thanks to an excellent lead out by Irish AG2R team colleague Mark Scanlon, and won ahead of Australian Robbie McEwen and Norwegian Thor Hushovd, with 178 riders given the same time.

Kirsipuu, who has won 119 races as a professional and four stages of the Tour since 1993, said: "It was so close and normally, in a headwind finish, Hushovd is so strong. I wasn't sure I'd won, but when I looked at the sad look on McEwen's face, I thought I had."

Cancellara, 23 and on his first Tour, deservedly retained his yellow jersey gained in the Prologue while Hushovd, by virtue of a small time bonus, moved into second place pushing Armstrong down to third for the moment.

The rain made the journey through the Ardennes woods very slippery with riders falling on surfaces that became treacherous. Cancellara, who is not a candidate for final victory as he cannot climb the high mountains yet, fought hard to keep first place by winning one four-second time bonus with 30 miles to go.

A long breakaway by German Jens Voigt (CSC), Janek Tombak (Estonia, Cofidis) Paolo Bettini (Italy, Quickstep), Bernhard Eisel (Austria, FDJ.com) and Frenchman Franck Renier (Brioches) shared all of the day's climbs, giving Bettini, the World Cup holder, an early lead in the King of the Mountains competition.

Meanwhile, Basque team Euskaltel, whose team leader Iban Mayo is a yellow jersey contender, have suspended their doctor Jesus Losa following a recent admission by Britain's David Millar that he used EPO.

Millar, whose Biarritz house was searched by French police last week, said he had been given advice by Losa.

Euskaltel confirmed Sunday that he had been suspended from the Tour while they carry out their own investigation. © Daily Telegraph, London

Phil Liggett
Cycling